Systems and methods for sharing user profile information using tag clouds are provided in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. A first tag cloud may be generated from attributes stored in a first user profile and a second tag cloud may be generated from attributes stored in a second user profile. A user may drag-and-drop attributes between the two tag clouds and, in response, the underlying user profiles may be updated. Tag clouds may thus present a user's media preferences in an attractive and compelling visual arrangement that, in some embodiments, also functions as an intuitive interface for copying preferences between user profiles.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method for interacting with multiple user profiles using a media guidance application implemented on a device, the method comprising: retrieving, from a database, a first user profile that stores a first set of media content attributes and a second user profile that stores a second set of media content attributes; generating, using tag cloud processing circuitry, a first tag cloud comprising the first set of media content attributes and a second tag cloud comprising the second set of media content attributes; receiving, with user input circuitry, a user indication from a first user to subscribe to the second user profile associated with the second tag cloud, wherein the first tag cloud is associated with the first user and the second tag cloud is associated with a second user; in response to receiving the user indication to subscribe to the second user profile, detecting a change in the second user profile; in response to the detected change in the second user profile, automatically copying, using the tag cloud processing circuitry, a media content attribute from the second tag cloud to the first tag cloud; and updating the first user profile to add the media content attribute to the first set of media content attributes stored in the first user profile.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a second user indication to drag-and-drop the media content attribute from the second tag cloud to the first tag cloud.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the media content attributes in the first and second sets has an assigned weighting factor indicating a level of importance of the given media content attribute to a user, and wherein generating the first and second tag clouds comprises rendering each of the media content attributes in a font size indicative of its assigned weighting factor.
4. The method of claim 3 further comprising: assigning the copied media content attribute a weighting factor based on at least one of: the weighting factor assigned to the copied media content attribute, the weighting factors assigned to the media content attributes in the first set of media content attributes, user preference information, and manual user input.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein automatically copying the media content attribute to the first tag cloud comprises: identifying a media content attribute in the first set of media content attributes as a candidate for removal; removing the identified media content attribute from the first tag cloud; and rendering, as part of the first tag cloud, the copied media content attribute in a font size indicative of its assigned weighting factor.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein identifying the media content attribute comprises determining which media content attribute in the first set of media content attributes has the smallest assigned weighting factor.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein automatically copying the media content attribute to the first tag cloud comprises: modifying the font size of each media content attribute in the first tag cloud based on the weighting factor assigned to the copied media content attribute; and rendering, as part of the first tag cloud, the copied media content attribute in a font size indicative of its assigned weighting factor.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising rendering the first tag cloud in a first font characteristic and the second tag cloud in a second font characteristic different from the first font characteristic, wherein the font characteristic is one of: font face, color, shading, and style.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: searching a plurality of media listings to identify first media content that matches one or more of the media content attributes within the first tag cloud; and generating for display, in a display screen simultaneously with the first tag cloud, a first media listing from the plurality of media listings that corresponds to the identified first media content.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: searching the plurality of media listings to identify second media content that matches one or more of the media content attributes within the second tag cloud; and generating for display a second media listing from the plurality of media listings that corresponds to the identified second media content, wherein displaying the second media listing comprises displaying the second media listing in the display screen simultaneously with the first media listing, the first tag cloud, and the second tag cloud.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: detecting whether the change corresponds to an addition of a media content attribute to the second set of media content attributes or a removal of a media content attribute from the second set of media content attributes, wherein the automatically copying the media content attribute from the second tag cloud to the first tag cloud occurs in response to detecting that the change corresponds to the addition of a media content attribute.
12. A system for interacting with multiple user profiles, the system comprising: a database configured to store a first user profile that includes a first set of media content attributes and a second user profile that includes a second set of media content attributes; and a processor configured to: retrieve the first user profile and the second user profile from the database; generate a first tag cloud comprising the first set of media content attributes and a second tag cloud comprising the second set of media content attributes, wherein the first tag cloud is associated with a first user and the second tag cloud is associated with a second user; receive a user indication from a first user to subscribe to the second user profile associated with the second tag cloud, wherein the first tag cloud is associated with the first user and the second tag cloud is associated with a second user; in response to receiving the user indication to subscribe to the second user profile, detecting a change in the second user profile; in response to detecting the change in the second user profile, automatically copy a media content attribute to the first tag cloud from the second tag cloud; and update the first user profile to add the media content attribute to the first set of media content attributes.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to receive a second user indication to drag-and-drop the media content attribute from the second tag cloud to the first tag cloud.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein each of the media content attributes in the first and second sets has an assigned weighting factor indicating a level of importance of the given media content attribute to a user, and wherein the processor is configured to generate the first and second tag clouds by rendering each of the media content attributes in a font size indicative of its assigned weighting factor.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to assign the copied media content attribute a weighting factor based on at least one of: the weighting factor assigned to the copied media content attribute, the weighting factors assigned to the media content attributes in the first set of media content attributes, user preference information, and manual user input.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to automatically copy the media content attribute to the first tag cloud by: identifying a media content attribute in the first set of media content attributes as a candidate for removal; removing the identified media content attribute from the first tag cloud; and rendering, as part of the first tag cloud, the copied media content attribute in a font size indicative of its assigned weighting factor.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to identify the media content attribute by determining which media content attribute in the first set of media content attributes has the smallest assigned weighting factor.
18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to automatically copy the media content attribute to the first tag cloud by: modifying the font size of each media content attribute in the first tag cloud based on the weighting factor assigned to the copied media content attribute; and rendering, as part of the first tag cloud, the copied media content attribute in a font size indicative of its assigned weighting factor.
19. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to render the first tag cloud in a first font characteristic and the second tag cloud in a second font characteristic different from the first font characteristic, wherein the font characteristic is one of: font face, color, shading, and style.
20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to: search a plurality of media listings to identify first media content that matches one or more of the media content attributes within the first tag cloud; and generate for display, in a display screen simultaneously with the first tag cloud, a first media listing from the plurality of media listings that corresponds to the identified first media content.
21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to: search the plurality of media listings to identify second media content that matches one or more of the media content attributes within the second tag cloud; and generating for display a second media listing from the plurality of media listings that corresponds to the identified second media content, wherein displaying the second media listing comprises displaying the second media listing in the display screen simultaneously with the first media listing, the first tag cloud, and the second tag cloud.
22. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to: detect whether the change corresponds to an addition of a media content attribute to the second set of media content attributes or a removal of a media content attribute from the second set of media content attributes, wherein the automatically copying the media content attribute from the second tag cloud to the first tag cloud occurs in response to detecting that the change corresponds to the addition of a media content attribute.
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December 28, 2011
December 2, 2014
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